Weber Inc.’s stock climbed more than 24% in after-hours trading Monday, mirroring an offer from its largest shareholder to buy the grill maker’s remaining shares for $6.25 apiece.
The offer to buy Weber’s
WEBR,
27.5 million shares not currently owned by BDT Capital Partners represents a 24.8% premium to the grill maker’s closing pricing on Monday. Weber has been mentioned as a potential meme stock, after being noted for its high short-interest and small stock float.
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BDT Capital Partners delivered a letter to Weber’s board Monday detailing the proposal to purchase the grill maker’s outstanding stock, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Our Proposal offers immediate liquidity to the Company’s public stockholders, while eliminating the risks to the public stockholders in the current market and operating environment that the Company’s current leverage position is unsustainable and that the Company may be unable to effect a recapitalization,” the offer letter states.
“We wish to emphasize that, in our capacity as a stockholder of the Company, we are only interested in acquiring the shares of the Company that we do not currently own, and accordingly we have no interest in a disposition or sale of our holdings in the Company or Weber Holdco, LLC and we have no interest in participating in an alternative change of control transaction involving the Company,” the letter added.
Earlier this month Bloomberg reported that Weber was considering debt financing from BDT Capital Partners, which owns nearly half the company’s shares at 48.16%, according to FactSet. MarketWatch has reached out to Weber for comment.
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In mid-August, Weber reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss. The company also announced a plan to cut costs and preserve liquidity against a backdrop of rising inflation and supply chain disruptions that slowed retail traffic.
A couple of weeks later, the grill maker suffered a selloff that also seemed to affect meme stocks Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
BBBY,
GameStop Corp.
GME,
and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
AMC,
lower.
Weber’s stock has fallen 61.1% this year and ended Monday’s session down 4% at $5.03. The S&P 500 index
SPX,
which is down 20.3% in 2022, closed up 1.2% on Monday. Of seven analysts surveyed by FactSet three have a hold rating for Weber and four have an underweight or sell rating.
